


one last birthday party

by sherlocked_little_hobbit



Series: hs boarding school au [2]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - Boarding School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - No Sburb Session, Birthday, Fluff, Gen, Mild Hurt/Comfort, More tags to be added, Slice of Life, just a fun lil thing for 413 this year
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-12
Updated: 2020-04-13
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:27:25
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23620810
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sherlocked_little_hobbit/pseuds/sherlocked_little_hobbit
Summary: Birthdays are a fairly universal, commonplace tradition - and when everyone lives in one school, celebrations are especially standard and somewhat dull.The Crocker-Egberts are, of course, a glaring exception to this.Boarding school au, kinda cute, very slice of life-y, nothing too serious
Relationships: Jane Crocker & Roxy Lalonde, John Egbert & Dave Strider, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Series: hs boarding school au [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1700278
Kudos: 1





	one last birthday party

**Author's Note:**

> Just thought I ought to do a little something for 4/13 this year, and then I decided to slap it into the same au as the dirkjake fic from last time cause why not
> 
> Oh also the alphas are in year 13 (=senior) and the betas are in year 12. The trolls are around too, somewhere, at some point

Birthdays are a fairly universal, commonplace tradition – and when everyone lives in one school, celebrations are especially standard and somewhat dull. Everyone actively fears and tries to dodge the spontaneous cacophony of a sung _happy birthday_ in the dining hall; the dreadful sound meanders its way through separate conversations, roping some students into wailing along with the dissonant harmonies while others roll their eyes and grimace. The inevitable, confused drop in volume where the name is supposed to be never fails to leave the birthday kid with their head in their hands, if it wasn’t already. It’s _almost_ as bad as when a teacher tries to make the whole class sing, over-enthusiastic smile slowly failing as the bored drone of sound becomes quieter and quieter.

(The director of music once tried to train everyone to sing it properly, for the headmaster. A large, imposing figure, stationed at the front of the assembly hall, arms raised like a messiah and chest puffed out like a robin. Explaining how to hit the high note in _happy birthday_ , with vibrato in his demonstration. People tried a little more, just in that session – if only to entertain him. By next week, when they were “all going to perform this and it’s going to be the best serenade you’ve ever given,” any semblance of progress had entirely regressed. Several students visibly cringed during the whole wretched affair. Anyone who glanced at him, positioned on the sidelines with the rest of the teachers, would have seen him close to tears, face bloated and shaking.)

So, most keep their birthdays relatively quiet; only their friends are aware on the day, and they might give some presents and well-wishes, with a modest gathering that could hardly be considered a party. Some popular students are a bit less tame and a bit more adventurous, getting more people together and stealing a little food from the kitchens.

But no-one pulls it off quite like the Crocker-Egberts do every year.

Everyone, with no exceptions, is invited. And Jane bakes for every guest, so who would refuse? On Sunday afternoon, she lets out a sigh and sits herself down on the kitchen floor, exhausted as she watches Roxy slide the last of the cakes into the oven.

“20 minutes…” she starts to dictate, but Roxy is already mashing the buttons faster than she can speak. “Yeah okay you know it.”

“Janey we’ve made like 60 cakes today, even I know how it’s done by now,” Roxy jokes as she slips the oven mitts off and lays an affectionate hand on Jane’s head, who beams up at her.

“And thank god you do, because I never would have managed it by myself!” She continues as Roxy opens her mouth to interject, “No, Jake did not manage to help at all. And then Dirk just stood there laughing at him! Utterly useless!”

“Saavage. Although, not untrue, to be fair.” She lets her hand fall from Jane’s flour-dusted hair with a soft laugh, and plops down on the floor next to her. “Honestly, how can you even mix up sugar with salt? He only lived on a remote island until like five years ago!”

“Honestly Rox I have no idea how that boy manages to make it through a single day here. He somehow gets away with literally never doing his homework on time, but if I hadn’t caught him about to pour salt straight into that cake batter…I’m just saying, he’d have wished he only had a detention instead.” Jane threatens, but she can’t help the soft tone of endearment in her voice, which Roxy laughs at. “Hey! I’m being serious,” she insists, though her smile says otherwise. “I appreciate a good prank as much as anyone else, but can you imagine if some poor year 9 kids had that cake? They would’ve been put off from the birthday parties forever! No, Roxy, Crocker-Egbert birthday parties have high standards and those standards include serving cake which doesn’t have salt instead of sugar in!!”

Roxy cackles with laughter at her defensiveness, but then sobers a little. “Are you…well, is John even gonna bake next year?”

Jane feels like she’s just been slapped, stomach sinking like a rock thrown down a well. It’s not that she wasn’t aware that this was her last year here, but she was only aware in the way one is vaguely aware of a fly buzzing around the other side of a room, when your attention is focussed elsewhere; in the way where you can take a deep breath and say a statement with your eyes glazed over and mouth moving itself, and yet not understand a word you’re saying. But now her head had been thrown underwater and held in position, forcing her to look at the reality of the situation.

She really was leaving in only a few months. Leaving what had been her home for the last- how many years? Eleven? She may have switched sites halfway through, so she’s only been here for five, but it’s been mostly the same kids she’d grown up with, the same community. It definitely doesn’t feel real to be going.

But it’s what everyone has to do. And on some level, Jane knows too that it must be far harder for Dirk and Roxy, who have truly never lived anywhere else. She still went home during school holidays and some weekends, but they didn’t have anywhere to go. So really, it seems somewhat selfish to be this affected by it, to keep complaining when they have it harder and still seem to deal with it so much better.

She jumps when Roxy slides her arm over her shoulders with an apologetic look on her face, but doesn’t move away from the contact.

“John wouldn’t be able to bake so much to save his life,” she replies belatedly, putting a smile on.

“Aw, Janey, that just means we all have to make the most of this year, right? The last true Crocker-Egbert birthday collaboration is defs gonna be one to remember!” Roxy stands, reaching her hand out to Jane to help her up. “And don’t you worry – I know what you were thinking about – we’ll all still meet up for your birthday next year for sure…and if there’s fewer of us at your party that means we all get more cake! But you’re gonna make a ton of friends at uni anyway, and it’ll all happen so fast you never really realise you’ve left. There’s defs no way you’re gonna be able to get rid of me so easily, anyhow! Literally imma visit you every week, and I’ll make the others do it too!”

Jane gives her a more sincere smile, and takes her hand to pull herself up. Now at eye level, Roxy whispers fiercely to her. “I know it feels like the end, but none of us are going anywhere. It’s not like this goddamn school is the only thing keeping us together. We’ll still stick with each other afterwards, I promise.”

She never fails to amaze Jane. “Thank you, Rox,” she says softly, knowing that just saying it is hardly enough, but also knowing that Roxy knows how much she seriously means it. “Let’s make sure tomorrow’s one to remember.”

**Author's Note:**

> The next chapter is coming soon I promise


End file.
